Method of removing a coating from a surface

ABSTRACT

AN APPARATUS AND METHOD OF REMOVING PAING BY HEAT, WHICH UTILIZES A HEATING ELEMENT TO HEAT A SHEET OF MATERIAL, WHICH PREFERABLY INCLUDES A METAL FOIL AND A MESH-LIKE MATERIAL SUCH AS COTTON OR FABRIC MESH TO ENABLE THE HEATING OF THE PAINT THROUGH THE METALLIC FOIL AND MESH TO CAUSE THE SOFTENING AND LIQUIFYING OF THE PAINT TO SUCH A DEGREE THAT UNDER HEAT AND PRESSURE IT WILL BE DIRECTED INTO THE MESH OR FABRIC, AND UPON CESSATION OF HEATING THE PAINT FOR A SHORT TIME, THE HEATED PAINT WILL ADHERE TO THE MESH TO ENABLE THE REMOVAL OF THE MESH CONTAINING THE PAINT FROM A PAINTED SURFACE. THE SHEET OF METALLIC FOIL, WHICH IS PREFERABLY ALUMINUM FOIL, PREVENTS THE ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT FROM BECOMING COATED WITH HEATED PAINT. ALSO THE FOIL ACTS AS AN EFFICIENT HEAT CONDUCTOR TO HEAT THE PAINT.

NOV, 30, 1971 J, V, JONES 3,623,909

METHOD OF REMOVING A COATING FROM A SURFACE Filed May 26, 1970 V FIG. 3 2M 2527, FIG, 4

26 J esq MNT United States Patent Oce 3,623,909 METHOD OF REMOVING A COATING FROM A SURFACE Josephine V. Jones, 2303 Piedmont Place, Wichita Falls, Tex. 76308 Filed May 26, 1970, Ser. No. 40,606 Int. Cl. B08b 7/00 U.S. Cl. 134-5 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus and method of removing paint by heat, which utilizes a heating element to heat a sheet of material, which preferably includes a metal foil and a mesh-like material such as cotton or fabric mesh to enable the heating of the paint through the metallic foil and mesh to cause the softening and liquifying of the paint to such a degree that under heat and pressure it will be directed into the mesh or fabric, and upon cessation of heating the paint for a short time, the heated paint will adhere tothe mesh to enable the removal of the mesh containing the paint from a painted surface. The sheet of metallic foil, which is preferably aluminum foil, prevents the electrical heating element from becoming coated with heated paint. Also the foil acts as an eicient heat conductor to heat the paint.

This invention relates to an apparatus for and process of removing paint or the like from a surface.

Various methods have been practiced heretofore for removing paint and the like from a surface, however, these, for the most part, embodied the use of chemicals which required that the chemicals left on the surface in removing the paint must be neutralized before the surface can be repainted or refinished.

Certain methods employed the use of a blow torch or a heated iron and the scraping of the surface with a blunt instrument, such as a putty knife, which method, when an open -flame Was used, was dangerous and often did not give the desired results.

The present invention and the method of practicing the invention is such that the paint is heated through a sheet of material which softens the paint, with the heated paint adhering to the material, and upon slight cooling of the paint, the sheet of material to which the paint is adhering is removed, leaving a clean unpainted surface.

An object of the invention is to provide for the removal of paint from a surface by heating a sheet of material which is superposed over the painted surface, so that the sheet will absorb the heat softened paint, thereby to enable the removal thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the removal of paint, or the like, from a surface by heating the paint through a plurality of sheets of material, one of which sheets will absorb the heated paint and one of which sheets is impervious to the absorption of the paint.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a heating element which is adapted to apply heat to the surface through one or more sheets of material with at least one of the sheets being a metal foil.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for removing paint, which means is simple in construction, easy to use and which provides a relatively inexpnsive method of removing paint from a surface.

With these objects in mind and others which will become manifest as the description proceeds, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters designate like parts in the several views thereof, in which:

n3,623,909 Patented Nov. 30, 1971 FIG. l is a perspective view of the heating element with parts broken away and with parts shortened to show the details of construction;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the heating element, with parts being shown in section and with parts broken away and shortened to lbring out the details of construction;

FIG. 3` is an exploded view of three sheets of material which normally make up the multi-ply sheet which is used to remove the paint from the surface;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but of the sheets of material in bonded relation;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary portion of a piece of material with the paint from a painted surface thereon;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view showing the sheets bonded together, as shown in FIG. 4, but showing the paint which has been removed from the surface adhering to one of the sheets; and

FIG. 7 is a modified form of the invention showing the use of only a two-ply sheet of material for removing paint.

With more detailed reference to the drawing, the numeral 1 generally designates an electrical heating unit which has a substantially plane surface 2 on one side thereof and which is hollow, as indicated at 4, to receive an electrical heating element 6 therein, as will be seen in FIG. 2. The heating unit i1 has a cover 8i thereon to which is secured a handle 10, which handle has an insulated member 12 thereon to enable the heating unit to be grasped by the hand while applying the unit for removing paint, varnish, or the like. dt is preferable to have the corners of the heating unit 1 rounded, as indicated at 14 and 16, with at least one corner rounded as indicated at 18. An angular portion 20 extends outward from a side of the unit 7, thereby to enable the heating element to be used on otherwise relatively inaccessible corners to enable the removal of paint, varnish, or the like.

It is preferably to have the electrical heating element 6 connected to wires 22, which wires lead to a suitable source of electricity, such as house current or the like.

A sheet of metal foil 24, such as aluminum foil, is provided to be contacted by the surface 2 of the electrical heating unit 1, which will transfer heat therethrough to an intermediate sheet 25, which sheet is of a material known as cellophane or nitro cellulose, which, when heated by the metal foil 24, forms a bond between the metal foil 24 and an absorbent sheet of net or knit-like fabric 26. When these three sheets are loosely bonded together, as indicated in FIG. 4,. the sheets are placed over a painted surface, the paint on which it is desired to remove. Upon application of the heat by the heating element 1, to the metal foil 24, the heat is conducted therethrough and through the cellophane like material 25 and absorbent or mesh-like material 26 to heat the paint, as indi cated at 28. Upon application of heat, as described, the paint softens and bubbles up into the mesh, net or knitlike fabric 26, and adheres thereto and to the cellophane or nitro cellulose 25, which adheres to the adjacent face of the metal foil 24, which is preferably a dull finish. While the paint is still soft, the multi-ply sheet of material is raised, which will cause the paint to be removed from the surface of material 30 in a manner substantially as indicated in FIG. 6.

The heating unit 1, when used to soften the paint through the multi-ply sheet of material, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, may be moved along the surface suiciently slow to allow the paint to be heated and softened thereby. Then the end of the sheet may be lifted and pulled from the surface in a continuous operation behind the heating element, with the multi-ply sheet, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, having received the softened paint, thereby the removal of the paint from the surface may be carried out in a substantially continuous manner.

The removal of paint in this manner obviates the necessity of scraping the paint, after it has been heated, with a blunt instrument, such as a putty knife, which could scar delicate wood grains and the like.

The multi-ply sheet of material, as indicated in FIG.-4, comprises a sheet of foil 24, a sheet of nitro cellulose 25 and fabric 26. This multi-ply sheet is suiciently low in cost as to be expendable, when the paint 28 has adhered thereto, as indicated in FIG. 6. Therefore, the material, particularly the absorbent mesh-like fabric and the cellophane, after each use may be discarded so as to perform a smooth job of paint or varnish removal without marring the most delicate grains of furniture or without marring other painted or varnished surfaces on which it is used.

Having thus fully shown and described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of removing from a surface a coating of paint or varnish, comprising the steps of:

(a) placing a mesh-like material over a surface which has said coating thereon,

(b) superposing a layer of metallic foil thereover,

(c) applying heat and pressure to the metallic foil until the coating on the surface softens and becomes intermingled with themesh-like material,

(d) lowering the heat on the metallic foil slightly to enable the heated coating intermingled with the mesh-'like material to adhere to the mesh-like material to enable the removal of the coating from the surface by removing the mesh-like material and (e) removing from the surface the mesh-like material with the intermingled coating.

2. A method of removing a coating from a surface, as

defined in claim 1; and including the further step of (a) introducing a sheet of porous material between the mesh-like material and the layer of metallic foil, so upon application of heat to the metallic foil, the sheet of material interposed therebetween will cause a bonding of the mesh-like material to the metallic foil to enable the removal of the coating by removing the bonded sheets from the surface.

3. A method of removing a coating from a surface,

as defined in claim 1; including a further step of:

(a) interposing between the mesh-like material and the layer of metallic foil a sheet of nitrocellulose material, so upon application of heat to the metallic foil, the nitro cellulose will cause a bonding of the meshlike material to the metallic foil to enable the removal of paint upon the removing of the bonded sheets from the surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,573,693 2/1926 Engstrom 15-104 1,809,718 6/1931 McNeil 134-6 X 2,458,530 l/l949 Resnick 15-105 X FOREIGN PATENTS 426,639 4/ 1935 Great Britain 219-228 MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner I. T. ZATARGA, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 134-6, 38 

